One Man's Defiant Costco Run

The Irvine Chamber of Commerce and Costco's Irvine Spectrum location will have a special ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 16 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the store at 115 Technology West.

The public is welcome from 9 to 10 a.m.; a ribbon cutting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m.

Seeing this calendar item from the Irvine Chamber reminded me that I wanted to write about Costco.

I have a Costco membership and go a few times per year. However, I am not an avid discount warehouse shopper like a lot of other people I know.

Specifically, I do not appreciate being asked to show my card on entry and then my receipt upon exiting. In fact, I ignore these requests every time. Anyone who has been with me on a Costco run is either entirely amused or very embarrassed by my behavior.

It all starts as I take several sanitary wipes from the dispenser at the entry door so I can sanitize the handle of the cart. (Studies show that shopping cart handles are home to everything from the common cold virus to microscopic particles of fecal matter.)

Then I push my cart, with purpose, through the entry threshold. This is usually when a card checker says, "Sir, I need to see your card." I ignore him or her and press forward.

With two or three more attempts at getting my attention, and with escalating decibels of "Sir!" being shouted, another member will usually tap me on the shoulder to let me know the card checker needs to speak with me.

I thank them politely but continue on my way. The member, who thinks they were being helpful, oftentimes acts befuddled and gives the impression of feeling slighted that I didn't hurry back like a good little sheep would do.

Once I am in the store, no one bothers me. I make my way through the aisles, filling my cart as all the other shoppers do until I am uneasy about having enough money to cover the cost of what I am buying.

After checking out, I deliberately leave the receipt at the register. Sometimes the assistant to the checker will hurriedly bring it to me. I refuse it. This is an important step in the process of keeping the honor of free people everywhere.

After paying, I head for the exit and once through the bottleneck created by the receipt checkers, I just push my cart forward and proceed to my car.

This is when things get fun. Costco's policy of checking your receipt before you leave is, to me, unacceptable. And therefore I will not adhere to it.

There is a good chance I will lose my membership over this column, but I am OK with that because I feel like it will give aid and comfort to other receipt checker dodgers and perhaps start a movement that will overwhelm the system and break Costco's idiotic policy.

They claim it is as much for your protection as it is for theirs. This is ridiculous. Other than perhaps a candy bar when I was 10, I have never stolen anything. So don't treat me like a criminal.

Getting out of Costco without showing your receipt is much more dramatic than entering without showing your card. Upon exiting, the staff will follow you or send security after you.

I know my rights though. Once I paid for it, I get to leave. You can't hold me hostage.

If you want to join me on this little effort, know full well that you are within the law and any attempt to physically stop you is not only wrong but likely either false imprisonment or assault or some other crime that Costco doesn't want its employees charged with.

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From the RHUer who submitted this story:

Frankly sir, you should be ashamed of yourself. It's immature brats like you that make websites like RetailHellUnderground.com and NotAlwaysRight.com necessary for us poor workers to vent. You owe the people of CostCo a HUGE appology. If you're a real man you would do that and then never darken their doorway again. Your parents did a horrible job raising you.

Comments

I doubt this will make a dent in the brain of the asshole who submitted this, but for what it is worth, I reply. We ask to see your card on entry to make sure you have it on you. I work at a club that does NOT ask to see the card upon entry. At least 2 or 3 times a day we get some who comes up to the register, I ask "do you have your membership card?" they say yes, but instead of digging it out of their wallet they proceed to put all 1000 items out of their cart onto the belt. Then they go looking for their card to discover they have left it at home or at the office or in their car or wherever. Then it is a HUGE freaking hassle not just for me, but for my supervisor to have to come over and get their license (if they have it with them) and look them up in the system and a huge hassle for the people waiting in line behind them. That is why many warehouse stores ask to see your card upon entry to make sure you have it on you. If you do not have it on you they will let you shop, they will just direct you to the membership desk to get your membership number first so that you do not hold up the line.

And at least once a week I will have someone come into my line, put a huge amount of items on the belt and then look at me with a blank stare when I ask for their membership card. "What membership card?" they reply. "What do you mean I have to be a member to shop here? You mean I have to pay you guys a membership fee, every year to shop here?" Seriously. There are people every week who do not seem to understand that what a warehouse club is.

As for checking the receipt, yes in some cases it is for your protection as well as the club. I have worked many a day as the receipt checker and have often found many times where a cashier has accidently double charged a member or when I knew an item went on sale, but for some reason the registers had not been set to ring up the sale price. But most often what happens is when a cashier forgets to ring up an item. All we do is send the member back to pay for that item. And yes it does happen. At least once or twice a day because they are human and they make mistakes and these big warehouse stores will like to protect their assets. They are not really looking so much for people who are stealing so much as they are looking for mistakes that cashiers had made.

I doubt the guy who wrote the column will have the stones to ever come back to this site again and will probably never read this, but I still wanted to put in my say, so here goes.

I have gone to big box stores like this with my mother when we had membership, and even as a LITTLE KID I understood the reason behind this stuff.
Sure, asking for your card and receipt checking can seem inconvenient, but you're getting bulk supplies for cheap, so forgive these places for not wanting to get ripped off. It is not a conspiracy to make you seem like a bad person, it is to stop people from stealing. And you may not be a thief but you sure are an entitled douche!

Ok, I have to chime in here. I also HATE the card and receipt checking at warehouse clubs (Sam's does this too). I call BS on the reasons stated for doing them. You DO NOT need to see my card when I enter to keep non-members from buying there because I have to use my member card to start the checkout process, even if paying in cash. That keeps non-members from buying at the "Discount" price (which another post completely...its not always cheaper in bulk).

I also call BS on "it prevents stealing" for the receipt check at the exit. First, usually these are some big items (48 rolls of TP!)....if other stores that sell much smaller and more easily concealed items don't check my receipt, why is this necessary when I'm buying items impossible to hide? Second, you can EASILY steal from these places WITH your purchase since the slave manning the door does not verify that each item is on the receipt. They do a cursory look and mark the paper. There's no real check. Add something to the cart you haven't paid for, and they'll never know.

So, even though the original author may be kind of a douche, he's right. Why should I pay $35-50 a year for the priviledge of being assumed to be a thief? Until someone can provide better justification for these policies, I'm going to keep thinking they are dumb and avoid them when possible.

BTW, Wal-mart used to check receipts at the door, but stopped a few years ago. They've gone out of business from all the theft that has happened since, haven't they?

Even if you don't like the policy, do you have to be a giant dickhole that could get the workers in trouble? And be smug about it?
Here's an idea; don't like it, shop elsewhere. Speak with your silence, not your childish tantrums that make the day harder for countless others.

I understand both sides of this; I should have a right to refuse to show a card when entering the store, or to have my receipt checked. I mean, during my brief stint at a Wastings in college, there was a guy who obviously had a DVD case in the pocket of his jacket and who set off the security alarm, but because we couldn't see the actual case and no one saw him take it, the manager could only ask him to turn out his pockets. Which he was, according to what the manager told me afterwards, allowed to refuse (and did). If a guy like that can lawfully refuse to show us his receipt or check his bag, then how am I, who would never steal anything and have corrected cashiers when they forgot to ring up an item, not allowed to?

But, on the other hand, Costco has the right to refuse me service. And in terms of dealing with the poor retail slaves who have no control over the rules but are supposed to enforce them anyways, you're just being a jerk if you make them chase after you.

But yeah, I think if it really bothered me that much, I just wouldn't shop at Costcos any more. Which I don't in the first place, but whatever.

@poofy I hope you get stuck behind someone who decides not to show their membership card at the door, someone who forgot their card at home. Then you get to wait in line for what feels like hours while the supervisor has to come over and check their license, and look them up in the computer system and compare their address on the license on the address to what is on the system and god forbid if the two do not match. Then you will have the pleasure of waiting on them to find second id that has their current address. But hey, you don't think they should have to show their membership card at the door.

The whole point of showing the membership card at the door is to make sure the member has it on them, that way if they do not, we can send them to the service desk to get their number so they DO NOT HOLD UP THE LINE.

I don't have a discount store membership, so this only applies to stores without one, and yes, if they want to, they can refuse me service in the future, but I must admit if there's the slightest line or delay for 'receipt checking' at the outbound door I'm going to skip it, and just walk out.

I've already been in line, I paid for my stuff, and usually, by the time I've gotten to the door, I've read my receipt myself... I'm not going to wait around to have it checked again.

I know, it's not the slave's policy, it's a store (or corporate) policy, and the slave can get into trouble for failing to check it, but that's the store's problem, not mine.

OKiiii totally gonna chime in here. You catch more flies with honey. I am no longer a member of a warehouse store (broke student, and no longer living with more than one person so it just doesn't make monies sense), but I loved it when I was. On top of it, i didn't mind the check check check of cards, receipts etc. why? Its not that big of a deal and because i work in retail i can understand it's not the workers faults. I'm also really chatty (before you call me out on how some people just aren't chatty, this is in part because i do, and have always had extremely severe social anxiety, and forcing myself to talk to others helps) and i love getting to know people. This has also resulted in me getting sweet discounts at a bunch of local shops that i might visit only once every few months. Point being, if it's policy, stop arguing with it. You could make a great employee lose their job, and how would you feel if some inconsiderate jerk did that to you?

As it's already been pointed out the receipt check is for a LOT more than just checking for stolen items. There's been many times when we've been over charged. Especially whenever they used one of those portable scanners that are suppose to send all the information to the register before you even put your items on the belt. They've charged us up to four times for the same item. And since you always buy a ton at a place like CostCo it's often hard to tell until someone looks at the receipt.

I agree with the person who said that you have the option to have the membership or not, and that if you don't like the security procedures, don't get a membership.

The only time the door check made any difference to me the person boxing up our stuff forgot to box something we really wanted, so we were glad it was caught at the door.

We have an electronics store here that does the whole check your receipt thing, but they are so irrational about the way they do it that I just choose to shop elsewhere whenever I can.

I think a lot of people are conditioned to just do as their told, and I don't think that's necessarily a great thing, but I don't think that checking membership at the door, nor checking receipts is the issue.

I am with Eetee.
@retailslave #2341: The middle of your comment is mean. You implicitly call people who do not now about this membership thing stupid, what with this "blank stare" and "do not seem to understand". Have you considered that there are people who simply do not know about it? I have first heard it a week ago, so by your standards I would be considered stupid? Unless there are huge signs stating "members shopping only, yearly fee 35 $", how should people know?

I used to shop at Costco frequently. The idea of showing your membership card upon entering an area which is "membership exclusive" is pretty much standard, so I never had a problem with it. In fact, the whole membership only thing actually meant queues were pretty short, so I spent almost no time waiting in there.
Plus the card check at the door also meant I had the card ready for when I needed it at the checkout, since a membership card has to be run through for the transaction.

Receipt checks were unusual at first, but most large stores (and many small ones) have security sensors at the doors, whilst costco did not. I see the receipt check as just a slower equivalent of that, with the advantage of mistakes being noticed.

I can understand getting upset with the reciept check when it's like the Best Buy in my city where the security is not 10 feet away from the registers. The security guys could spend their time looking at customers as opposed to teen girls asses, but they don't hire decent people. Costco kind of needs to do it the way they do since their items wouldn't really fit into a bag so there isn't a reasonable expectation that they should know you have or haven't payed. As for showing your card before going in considering you have to have one to shop there I can't see why anyone could be bothered by that.

@Skittles, the reason they ask to see your card when you come into the store is to make sure you have your card on you. That way if you do not have your card they can send you to the customer service desk to get your number or if you have lost your card to get reprint of your card.

That way you do not get up to the register but all of your items on the belt and then say, "Oops, I forgot my card at home." Then it is a HUGE freaking pain to with. And it slows down the process and pisses off the people in line behind you.

The club store I work out does not demand to see people card upon entry and let me tell you we have to deal with the "oh no I forgot my card at home" at least 2 or 3 times a day. Every now and then I have to go fill in at one of our other store across town when they are short on help, and they do enforce the showing the card on entry and we never have that problem.

retail slave #2341 That makes more sense but either way I still can't wrap my head around how that would upset anyone. Of course I don't get how people are all offended by ID checks when buying booze or smokes either.

I don't mind the card checks at the entrance, not only for the reason retail slave #2341 stated, but also so non-member NATs can't get in (anyone who steals from a store who has their name and picture is kind of a dumbass), oblivious people who don't realize you *need* a membership don't waste everyone's time, and to save cashiers the hassle of verifying that your membership card is still valid and that it is in fact yours. Receipt checking is annoying, ridiculous and a little insulting but I don't actually give enough of a fuck to "make a stand" about it.

The bottom line is these people are following their employment directions. That is their job. If you don't want to follow the rules that you pay for (your $35), stop going.
Otherwise, is it really that hard to follow directions a few times a year? Are you trying to get someone fired or start a fight about something? Stop being an asshole!

I haven't been working at Sam's Club long, but I did witness an awesome move by the GM. Some douche did try the "I am not going to show my receipt at the door" routine. The GM got his card, gave him the $40 for the membership, and told him not to come back. The douche stood outside the doors with his bottom jaw on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, he regained his sense of entitlement and started throwing a temper tantrum. The cops came and took the douche away.

Really, people, pick and choose your battles. Plus, taking out your sense of privacy and self-entitlement out of retail slaves is very douche-y. Plus, not spending your money at Walmart or Sam's Club or CostCo is not going to make a dent in the purse of the owners and/or boardmembers.

Here in New Yawk if you are buying ALCOHOL you do NOT have to be a member; show any sort of membership card at either entry or at purchase and are free to go after payment.

So keep this in mind!! Esp if you just pass the inbound checker with a "Which way to the beah"? smile and nod!

I dunno how this works in other parts of the world and we are not ALLOWED to sell HARD LIQUOR in the same store as beah and wine--in fact I think you can only sell some odd "wineish" sorts of things in a beah store soooo----

But SAMS here does have a number of beah varieties. Dunno if they are worth the trip tho as SAMS is often MORE $$$ than a reg store inc WALMART--who OWNS SAMS!!!!!

The "only" reason we have a SAMS card is for about 3 things--the giant savings on toilet paper--we have 7 people in one house and an elderly rellie we buy for---the extra large bottles of Excedrin Migraine and a few other meds OTC variety and the meat counter. Have you noticed that SAMS does not sell "treated meats" with the salt solution crap like Walmart and a lot of other places do?

That said--yeah I HATE doing the "Show Yer Card Dance" esp since I am handicapped and usually trying to get one of the hugely oversized and seriously uncomfortable wheelie carts. WHO designs these things??? The Torture Team????

And a few years ago SAMS got schooled for trying to rip off members on their re-ups--if you had a membership that ran out and you tried to renew it you were charged retroactively for the ENTIRE time the thing was "down"--so if you had let it lapse say 9 months ago you would have to PAY for a 1 year but only GET 3 months USE outta the thing!

The "workaround" on this is to have a friend or family member get a NEW membership --ie we had a shared membership and when it lapsed--after they stopped having the things we had orig joined FOR---and we went BACK and discovered this rip-off we just had the OTHER family member get the NEW account in their name.

AS to leaving--ugh. I get it--I DO--but I still hate it. And I will NOT stop for any Wallyworld chasers after one tried to force me to stop when I had a toaster oven in my cart and the family member who had paid for it was ahead of me when I got STOPPED. I was not allowed to go and GET the family member WITH the receipt so how exactly WAS I going to prove I did not STEAL it? I ended up having a nice chat with the store manager--he knows my husband as he is the store manager of the big box lumber place that shares their parking lot!--and he agreed that this was getting out of control... lately the checkers are much less agressive about this.

And the biggest theft I was ever aware of working retail? A guy walked out of a large ritzy retail store in FULL SKI CLOTHING WITH THE SKIES AND POLES AND BOOTS GLOVES AND HAT AND BIBS AND JACKETS---ON HIS BODY. And no--he had NOT paid for them--any of them! Did "Security DO anything"? Nopers.